Man Group plc Reduces Stock Position in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT)

Man Group plc trimmed its stake in Essent Group Ltd. (NYSE:ESNT) by 29.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,620 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,523 shares during the period. Man Group plc’s holdings in Essent Group were worth $850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. NFC Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. NFC Investments LLC now owns 56,688 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,086,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 180 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 68.8% in the 4th quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 584 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 238 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,988 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Essent Group by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 47,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,584,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. 93.00% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on ESNT. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 9th. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Essent Group in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Essent Group from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $60.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $63.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Douglas J. Pauls sold 3,000 shares of Essent Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.80, for a total value of $179,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 27,165 shares in the company, valued at $1,624,467. The trade was a 9.95% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Mary Lourdes Gibbons sold 1,777 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.07, for a total transaction of $106,744.39. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 253,022 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,199,031.54. This trade represents a 0.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 5,001 shares of company stock valued at $299,591. Insiders own 2.90% of the company’s stock.

Essent Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE ESNT opened at $57.56 on Friday. Essent Group Ltd. has a 1 year low of $51.61 and a 1 year high of $65.34. The stock has a market cap of $5.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $56.74 and a 200 day moving average of $56.37.

Essent Group (NYSE:ESNT) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 9th. The financial services provider reported $1.69 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $317.56 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $311.18 million. Essent Group had a net margin of 58.69% and a return on equity of 13.35%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Essent Group Ltd. will post 6.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Essent Group Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, June 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 30th will be issued a $0.31 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 30th. This represents a $1.24 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.15%. Essent Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.16%.

Essent Group Company Profile

Essent Group Ltd., through its subsidiaries, provides private mortgage insurance and reinsurance for mortgages secured by residential properties located in the United States. Its mortgage insurance products include primary, pool, and master policy. The company also provides information technology maintenance and development services; customer support-related services; underwriting consulting; and contract underwriting services, as well as risk management products and title insurance and settlement services.